A CCDC Blue Team Interview: Ryan Haley
Hey all! I got the chance to talk to Ryan Haley, a CCDC veteran from DePaul University. Ryan makes some excellent points, clearly tenured with experience. My questions echo my own philosophies, that the gamification of this information security competition has made practice of info sec more fun, evolve the game (through competition), and ultimately builds important and lasting memories. So without further ado, a post-CCDC blue team interview (conducted by a red teamer):
DB: Ryan, let's start with more about you. How long have you been involved in Information Security? What are your areas of interest / expertise within Info Sec?
RH: I stated my Info Sec career about 5 years ago in high school when I took my first CCNA class. My main focus in in Network Security (Architecture and Engineering), but I've worn a lot of hats in that timeframe (developer, PCI compliance, analyst, government employee, engineer).
DB: How long have you been involved with CCDC? How many red / blue style events have you been involved with?
RH: I've been part of CCDC for 5 years (2011). I've done too many events to count, including red vs blue, ctfs, king of the hill, etc.
DB: Do you think CCDC has had an impact on your skills as a practitioner?
RH: Definitely. I became the team captain of our school 4 years ago. Since then, I've had to develop a solid game plan and ability to get new members up to speed. This required me to do extensive research and testing on all aspects of running a small business (based on a CCDC environment), not only from a technical perspective, but also other areas such as compliance, presentations, working with users/C-level, etc.
DB: Do you think CCDC has an impact on one's teamwork or ability to work with a team?
RH: For sure. Teamwork is what I think is one of the most valuable, yet overlooked aspects of CCDC. This year, we practiced about 10 hours every week since last September. Since we spent so much time together, we built quite a good friendship with one another. We learned each others strengths and weaknesses, when to push people and when to hold back, and how we learn from each other. I've made a ton of connections over my CCDC career. I see about 95% of my past teammates at least once a year (usually at conferences) and reach out to them if I ever run into issues at my job. It is a great mini network to run ideas or problems off of one another. I would gladly work with any of them in the future.
DB: Do you think CCDC has an impact on one's ability to work under pressor?
RH: I wouldn't go as far as saying that it can change how people react under pressure, but it definitely can get people used to it. Some people are more suited than others, but it is a great learning experience none the less.
DB: Do you think the competitive environment of CCDC cause people to innovate?
RH: Oh yes. I'm actually going to submit a talk about this at Derbycon this year with one of my teammates (inspired by Raphael Mudge's Dirty Red Team Tricks). Over the past couple years, there are a lot of out of the box things we have implemented to give us a leg up on other teams. Basically, it comes down to adapting to what your organization can handle and still function.
DB: What are some of the core values you think CCDC promotes?
RH: Teamwork, leadership, expertise in an a particular skill area (Windows, Linux, Networking, App Sec, etc), ability to adapt, ability to be able to learn and research quickly.
DB: Does training for CCDC make information security training in general more enjoyable than vs a more traditional context?
RH: In my experience it definitely does, but I'm a super competitive person.
DB: Do you know anyone who's gotten a job from CCDC?
RH: Not at the competition itself, but as a result of it. Not only does it provide hands on skills, but it also a great talking point during interviews, especially regarding social and team building aspects.
DB: This year being the last competing on the blue side of the house, whats your most lasting impression of CCDC?
RH: Great! It's bitter sweet, but I'm sure I'll be back next year either on red team or white team designing the topology for next year.
DB: Final thoughts?
RH: I know your goal is to promote gamification of security exercises, but there are a couple of downsides that I've come across. CCDC does provides a great platform for learning skills, but knowledge sharing is severely lacking in the space. Since blue teams are facing one another, the culture is one of keeping strategy secret from one another, instead of sharing knowledge. This usually snowballs into not trusting other teams as well. It may not be the same for everyone, it's just what I've experienced.
DB: Ryan, let's start with more about you. How long have you been involved in Information Security? What are your areas of interest / expertise within Info Sec?
RH: I stated my Info Sec career about 5 years ago in high school when I took my first CCNA class. My main focus in in Network Security (Architecture and Engineering), but I've worn a lot of hats in that timeframe (developer, PCI compliance, analyst, government employee, engineer).
DB: How long have you been involved with CCDC? How many red / blue style events have you been involved with?
RH: I've been part of CCDC for 5 years (2011). I've done too many events to count, including red vs blue, ctfs, king of the hill, etc.
DB: Do you think CCDC has had an impact on your skills as a practitioner?
RH: Definitely. I became the team captain of our school 4 years ago. Since then, I've had to develop a solid game plan and ability to get new members up to speed. This required me to do extensive research and testing on all aspects of running a small business (based on a CCDC environment), not only from a technical perspective, but also other areas such as compliance, presentations, working with users/C-level, etc.
DB: Do you think CCDC has an impact on one's teamwork or ability to work with a team?
RH: For sure. Teamwork is what I think is one of the most valuable, yet overlooked aspects of CCDC. This year, we practiced about 10 hours every week since last September. Since we spent so much time together, we built quite a good friendship with one another. We learned each others strengths and weaknesses, when to push people and when to hold back, and how we learn from each other. I've made a ton of connections over my CCDC career. I see about 95% of my past teammates at least once a year (usually at conferences) and reach out to them if I ever run into issues at my job. It is a great mini network to run ideas or problems off of one another. I would gladly work with any of them in the future.
DB: Do you think CCDC has an impact on one's ability to work under pressor?
RH: I wouldn't go as far as saying that it can change how people react under pressure, but it definitely can get people used to it. Some people are more suited than others, but it is a great learning experience none the less.
DB: Do you think the competitive environment of CCDC cause people to innovate?
RH: Oh yes. I'm actually going to submit a talk about this at Derbycon this year with one of my teammates (inspired by Raphael Mudge's Dirty Red Team Tricks). Over the past couple years, there are a lot of out of the box things we have implemented to give us a leg up on other teams. Basically, it comes down to adapting to what your organization can handle and still function.
DB: What are some of the core values you think CCDC promotes?
RH: Teamwork, leadership, expertise in an a particular skill area (Windows, Linux, Networking, App Sec, etc), ability to adapt, ability to be able to learn and research quickly.
DB: Does training for CCDC make information security training in general more enjoyable than vs a more traditional context?
RH: In my experience it definitely does, but I'm a super competitive person.
DB: Do you know anyone who's gotten a job from CCDC?
RH: Not at the competition itself, but as a result of it. Not only does it provide hands on skills, but it also a great talking point during interviews, especially regarding social and team building aspects.
DB: This year being the last competing on the blue side of the house, whats your most lasting impression of CCDC?
RH: Great! It's bitter sweet, but I'm sure I'll be back next year either on red team or white team designing the topology for next year.
DB: Final thoughts?
RH: I know your goal is to promote gamification of security exercises, but there are a couple of downsides that I've come across. CCDC does provides a great platform for learning skills, but knowledge sharing is severely lacking in the space. Since blue teams are facing one another, the culture is one of keeping strategy secret from one another, instead of sharing knowledge. This usually snowballs into not trusting other teams as well. It may not be the same for everyone, it's just what I've experienced.
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| Pictured is the DePaul 2016 CCDC Team, after winning MWCCDC |
